Best First Hours

Pilotwings Resort

The island from Lost is its own character. It's mysterious, malevolent,
and seemingly sentient. It's more than just a setting, interacting with
each of the show's characters as much as any other person stranded
there.

Nintendo wants WuHu Island to be like that. Well, sort of. Not the evil
part, of course. Where the island from Lost is a place full of peril,
pitfalls, and plotholes, WuHu Island is familiar, comfortable, and
friendly. It is supposed to be like a favorite character, an entity
that the player reminisces with every time they meet. That's why it's
already shown up in three different casual Nintendo titles (Wii Fit, Wii
Sports Resort, and Wii Fit Plus).

Make that four, as Nintendo brings Mii back to WuHu island, this time
exclusively for airborne activities in Pilotwings Resort. Pilotwings is no
stranger to acting as the "tech demo" launch title for new visual
splendor; the original SNES game introduced the world to Mode 7 Mapping
while its Nintendo 64 sequel showed off the new system's polygonal
graphics from a birds' eye view.

This will be my second visit to WuHu Island, after the WiiMotion+
showcase that was Wii Sports Resort. There was a certain charm to
staging the various activities around the island, full of recognizable
landmarks and curiosities. However, it could just as easily be argued
that this is all laziness on Nintendo's part, recycling assets they
created years ago across a number of games. Will a half-hour at WuHu
Island rekindle warm memories of jet skis and archery or has this
vacation hotspot gone cold?

Minute by Minute

00 - "Welcome to WuHu Sky Club! Please select a Mii character to join." I
choose the most handsome Mii ever created, of course. Then I get to
sign my name on the member card. Now it's official!

01 - To start
things off, I get to take a quick trial flight. I'll try the plane
first. I control my direction with the circle pad. The A button is a
boost, and B is brake. I take off from the water and soar into the
skies. The music sounds really familiar...where is that from?

02 -
The 3D effect works really well, even at its lowest setting. On higher
settings, however, I just see double vision. I continue to fly around
the island, checking out the scenery that's surprisingly familiar to me
from Wii Sports Resort.

03 - I can change the camera view with X,
getting an overhead view or a first person camera. The controls require
some subtlety to maneuver effectively, and the circle pad is up to to
the task. I end the trial flight period from the pause menu.

04 -
I've got a choice between Mission Flight Mode and Free Flight Mode.
I'll start with Mission Flight. The first six missions are training.

05
- Let's try the rocket belt first, I remember having some fun with that
in Pilotwings 64. It's exactly the same from what I remember: A button
controls jets, B button has low-power jets. I fly through some balloons
and finish the mission with a 3-star rating.

06 - Hang-glider
training: flying through some rings. Easy as pie. I earned a perfect
score! Apparently I can earn higher than perfect next time I try it.
How?

07 - Plane training: flying through some rings...again. I
use the A button boost to get through rings faster. Another perfect
score!

08 - Plane landing training: I fly down into the landing
zone in the water, skidding across the sea to a stop. Not a perfect
landing, apparently, but still a 3-star rating.

09 - Rocket belt
landing training: I have to land on a bulls eye target in the distance. I
use the B button to slow my descent...my Mii's knees buckle a bit as I
land, not quite perfect. Still 3 stars.

10 - Hang-glider landing
training: similar to the plane, I have to approach the ground at a
parallel and then stop with a few steps. Bit of a rough landing. 3 stars
anyway.

11 - Finished all the training missions! I've unlocked
the Bronze class, with six more missions. Let's do Pad Jumping with the
rocket belt. It's as it sound: I have to fly from one bulls eye target
to the next with the rocket belt, landing as close to the center on each
one as possible.

12 - I get more points by flying through
balloons between each pad. Landing on a pad also refuels my rocket belt
jets. Rough landing again...this is going to require some practice to
get perfect landings, I guess. Three stars anyway!

13 - Let's try
this plane mission, Ring Around the Island. Flying along guide lines
through rings, it seems. It's pretty easy to over-steer in this plane,
so I'm avoiding the outer range of the circle pad with my thumb.

14 - Still flying through rings...

15
- There some kind of frame here...oh, it's like a speed booster! Wasn't
expecting that. It launched me through several point balloons. Time to
land in the water...Great landing, but not perfect. I'm not sure how I
could make it better...three star rating.

16 - Next mission, Into
The Thermals with the hang-glider. Flying through rings...and there's a
thermal draft ahead, which lifts my glider higher into the air. Good
thing, I was about to hit the water.

17 - The glider turns much
slower than the plane, making it easier to steer but requiring more
forethought. The landing zone is ahead...Great landing, but not perfect.
This game is going to require perfection for perfect landings, it
seems. Completionists are either going to get very frustrated or very
good at the game.

18 - Let's do another glider mission, Photo Op.
I have to snap a photo of the lighthouse, then land the hang-glider. I
hold R to look through the camera lens, then release it to take a photo.
Got the lighthouse!

19 - I recognize the path I'm being led
through: parts of it were used a jet ski course in Wii Sports Resort. I
soar onto the landing zone for another imperfect landing, this time only
earning two stars. How shameful! Looks like I lost some points for
taking too long. How do you speed up a hang glider?

20 - Ha, I can save that picture of the lighthouse to the SD card. Check it out!

21
- Next mission: Rocket Ring Challenge with the rocket belt. Flying
through balloons...the rocket belt can't turn well, so I have to keep
adjusting my turns to keep from overshooting the path.

22 - And there's the landing bulls eye. Perfect! And that earns me another three star rating.

23
- Let's finish up the Bronze missions: Target Practice time, in the
plane. I take off from the pond near the castle. Holding Y brings up the
targeting reticule, and releasing it fires a shot. I have to shoot
bulls eyes floating in the air along my balloon path.

24 - More
targets, then it's time to land. Perfect landing! I don't know what made
that better than my previous landings...but it earns me a perfect
score! Again, I can come back to this mission and earn BETTER than
perfect somehow.

25 - And that's it for the Bronze missions! I've
unlocked the Silver class missions, and can also now collect balloons
in Free Flight Mode. Let's check that mode out now.

26 - In Free
Flight Mode, I get to fly wherever I want, but the objective is to
collect all the information icons scattered around the island. I can pop
all the balloons, as well, since I unlocked those. Looks like this mode
isn't endless, like I expected: I have two minutes before the mode
ends.

27 - Collected some landmark info icons: The Red Iron
Bridge, Palm Boulevard, Cocoba Hotel, and the Tennis Courts. I also pop
some balloons between each.

28 - I crashed into the bridge! My
Mii parachutes out of the plane, and I reset near the hotel. And time's
up! I found four information icons and five balloons. The game
apparently keeps a high score for each.

30
- The Squirrel Suit mission has me falling through rings, controlling
my fall speed and steering with the circle pad. I end the first half
hour by plummeting towards the earth in a Squirrel Suit.

Half-hour summary

Minutes to Action: 1

What I liked

Precision Perfection: Pilotwings Resort seems to be as much a showcase
for the system's analog circle pad as it is the stereoscopic 3D visuals.
The airborne vehicles are prone to over-steering and the landing
process is quite demanding, requiring subtlety to the controls that most
games ignore. The 3DS' circle pad is up to the task, providing an input
that compares very well to standard control sticks.

Hey, that's the bridge where we dueled! And the volcano that we had our
archery contest inside! And the tennis courts where we...well, I guess
we never played tennis there, did we? I've fallen right into Nintendo's
trap, recognizing so many little pieces of the island that hosted the
activities of Wii Sports Resort and letting nostalgia wash over me.

Just as pretty in your pocket: The copypasta setting provides an
opportunity to make easy comparisons to Nintendo's current console
hardware, and the results are quite good. This 3DS WuHu Island clone
doesn't seem to have as much activity going on as its Wii parent, but I
think I'd have a hard time telling the difference between the two. The
3D effect is put to good use as well, emphasizing the vertigo when
climbing to maximum altitude and the claustrophobia when strafing
through the town streets.

What I didn't like

Same ol' same ol': It's fun seeing the old bowling alley and tracing the
jet ski path through the caves, but I've done this all before in Wii
Sports Resort's Island Flyover mode. I just hope the nostalgia keeps
flowing. If it doesn't, I'm going to start wondering what's left to
explore, and the answer seems to be "nothing."

Would I keep playing? Yes. Flying is cool, and I'm curious to see what
other vehicles they can cook up after the squirrel suit.

In 3D? Probably. I have to keep the effect at a
very low setting to make it work, but it does make the experience feel a
little more grand. Some have claimed that it aides distance judgment,
but I'm not sure I would say that just yet.